


to linger

by wolfchasing



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Dark, M/M, Possession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 18:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14407503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfchasing/pseuds/wolfchasing
Summary: after one jump too many and too many nights without enough sleep, Paul's exhausted. he can't really focus or think or recover. so mirror Paul just... lingers. just a little longer.





	to linger

Every day on the Discovery is a long day. They’re the fleet’s preeminent science vessel, living on the front lines of a massive interspecies war. No day passes without some sort of crisis.

But for Hugh, today has been especially long. He was supposed to be in engineering this afternoon to observe Paul making a jump with the drive interface that had been installed in his arms – but the CMO required his assistance. The appendix of some poor lieutenant had burst and gone septic, and the CMO had needed his help with the emergency surgery.

They’d managed to save the kid – some bright, young thing fresh from his battlefield promotion to lieutenant – but it had been a long evening in the surgical theatre filled with too much uncertainty and stress.

The CMO had instead sent one of their nurses down to engineering to observe Paul as he made the jump. Hugh already knew that the interfaces worked – he and Paul and designed them, after all, of course they worked. But they still needed fine-tuning, and Paul was often too far gone in the network to make any useful observations.

The nurse was supposed to watch Paul, look out for any signs of discomfort or irritation during the jump, and then send a report for Hugh to read after the surgery was over. As Hugh begins the journey from the medbay to his quarters, he reads the report on his PADD.

 _Dr. Culber,_ the report reads. _Could see no visual expression of discomfort from Lt. Stamets from the drive connecting with the interface. Some bodily movement – shifting, twitching of limbs - observed during the jump phase, and scanners detected some rapid eye movement. Observed some disorientation after the jump – mild difficulty moving, behaviour congruent with intoxication, but it cleared up after exiting the reaction cube. Stamets seemed excessively exhausted and somewhat distant – but he and the other staff members claim it is a normal reaction to the jumps. Examination of the interface sites show no irritation. Stamets dismissed himself soon afterwards, and returned to his quarters._

Hm. Concise and to the point, but not nearly as informative as Hugh would like it to be. Hugh runs his hand down his face as he approaches his quarters, the exhaustion of the day making the movement sluggish. He presses the ball of his palm into his eyes, and attempts to rub away some of the grit that has gathered there, and comes to the conclusion that he won’t be satisfied until he can observe Paul’s next jump for himself.

The door to their quarters slides open at his approach as it recognises his bio-signature, and he feels satisfaction at the feeling of coming home to his partner. He steps through the doorway, but he stops dead as he looks into the room.

Something is… off.

The room is dark – absolutely pitch black. It’s after midnight, hours and hours after the jump, and Hugh expects Paul to be asleep from the exhaustion. But Paul _always_ leaves a light on for Hugh if he’s the first one back to their quarters at night.

Usually it’s the light above the entry, or one of the warm lamps sitting next to their bed - enough to show Hugh that Paul’s waiting or asleep.

Coming home to a dark room fills Hugh with a peculiar kind of dread that he can’t explain. He scans the room quickly, and his eyes catch on a faint flicker of movement in an armchair in the far corner of the room.

It’s Paul, holding in his hands the only source of light in the room – a photograph, shining a soft bluish glow that illuminates Paul’s face like a beacon in the darkness.

Hugh knows that photo well – it’s a photo from the early days of their relationship, when Hugh had been able to get a few days off to visit Paul and his lab on Deneva. It had been their first real-life date – a picnic in Paul’s mushroom biome. It’s a simple selfie of them, Paul's lips pressed to Hugh's cheek as he takes the photo, laughing. It’s a fond memory – a display of the lighter side of Paul’s personality.

But the way that Paul is gazing at it now is… odd.  Hugh can see some strange, intense emotions playing across Paul's face - loneliness, want, jealousy?

The way the light plays across Paul’s visage sends the angles and planes of his face into hostile relief. He’s known Paul to be thoughtless, sometimes, and rough around the edges. But he’s never before looked so cruel – not like this.

The door behind Hugh slides closed, and the noise causes Paul’s head to jerk up, the movement stilted and unnatural. Hugh makes no movement to turn on the light, with some animal instinct telling him to stay completely still.

Paul stands from the chair, and makes a small movement towards Hugh. He’s not moving normally – not how Hugh would expect him to. A smile stretches across Paul’s face, and it just doesn’t look _right._

“Paul?” He says – whispers. Why is he whispering?

There’s a beat – a moment where all they do is look at each other.

A twitch runs through Paul’s body – like an animal trying to shake water from its fur, and his eyes close as a spasm crosses his face. Paul’s head tilts towards the ground ever so slightly, and a whole gamut of emotions runs across his face.

Another moment passes, and Hugh can hear his own heartbeat in his ears, the adrenaline rushing through his body as he prepares to do _something,_ to flee or fight or –

And then, Paul looks back up, face still illuminated by the glow of the photograph, his eyes finding Hugh’s. It’s like looking at a whole new person, and Hugh can see his Paul again – looking at him with that same soft tenderness and love that only Hugh is privy to.

"Hugh? What's wrong?"

Hugh switches on the light, and the moment passes.

 _It’s just the tardigrade DNA giving him mood swings._ Hugh thinks as he takes Paul’s hand in his own, trying to tell his own heart to calm down. _He’d tell me if something were wrong, right?_

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> we have fun on discord. a vague prompt of: "what if mirror paul lingers, sometimes?" turned into me spooking everyone out.


End file.
